What is a Privacy Policy?

A Privacy Policy is a statement provided on a website that explains how you collect, use, and disclose personally identifiable information.

What is Personally Identifiable Information?

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is any data that could be used to identify a specific person.

Examples of PII include:

1. Name;
2. Email;
3. Phone number;
4. Physical address.

What laws require websites to have a Privacy Policy?

If your website has a contact form, an email newsletter signup form or collects Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from visitors in other ways, you need a Privacy Policy. In fact, there are many laws that require websites to have a Privacy Policy:

1. California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 (CalOPPA) – a privacy law that applies to any website that collects the PII of California residents;
2. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – a new privacy laws that protects the PII of California residents;
3. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – a privacy law that protects the PII of European Union residents and applies to businesses outside of the European Union as well;
4. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 603(A) – a recently amended privacy law that protects the PII of Nevada residents;
5. And more.

New privacy laws affecting websites are being proposed and passed

In the United States, more and more states are proposing and passing their own privacy bills, which would require websites to have an updated and compliant Privacy Policy or face steep fines. We monitor these privacy bills for you and update your Privacy Policy whenever privacy laws change.

Penalties for not having a Privacy Policy

The penalties for not complying with privacy laws can range from $2,500 per violation (which can mean per website visitor) to €20,000,000. States like New York are proposing privacy bills which will enable their citizens to sue businesses, of any size and location, simply for having a contact form without an up to date Privacy Policy. You not only need a Privacy Policy, but you also need a strategy to keep it up to date when new laws go into effect and new disclosures are required.

Learn more about our Data Privacy Protection services to secure your website.